Froedtert Hospital employee tests positive for TB

WAUWATOSA (WKOW) -- Froedtert Hospital officials say around 40 patients and 100 workers will be offered free tuberculosis tests after a staffer was diagnosed with an early stage of TB last week.

The staffer works on Froedtert's main campus in Wauwatosa. Hospital spokeswoman Nalissa Wienke tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the staffer was diagnosed March 29 and had minimal contact with patients. She says patients were "very unlikely" to have contracted the disease from her because it doesn't spread easily.

Still, she says the hospital will offer free TB tests to people who might have had contact with the staffer.

Wienke also says the woman is receiving treatment at home and is expected to fully recover.

There were 71 cases of tuberculosis in Wisconsin in 2012. That's up from 55 in 2010.